Please introduce yourself.
My name is Reyna Young AKA Horror Hostess Miss Misery, I am a Director, Producer, Author and all around geek when it comes to toys and comic books.
What is it that attracts you the horror genre for your chosen field of creative work?
Growing up I was always about horror, not sure why, probably my dad’s fault. He used to wake me up Saturday nights when I was young to watch two late shows. One called Monsters and then right after Tales from the Darkside which both shows were my favorite. I was not allowed to watch horror films quite yet but was obsessed with horror books and did watch the horror awards show when it was on every year. Horror is just something I can’t escape, I love it!
Who inspires you in your work and in life?
Everything and everyone around me, inspires me. I can’t say any one thing or one person inspires me; I look at everything with open eyes and have a huge imagination. I’m constantly writing and thinking of new ideas for projects every day.
Women in horror have made great strides, but it’s clear that a lot of work is still needed to make it a most inclusive genre. To you, what is the importance of a movement like Women in Horror Month?
Woman in Horror Month has always been this outlet to promote not only yourself but other females who are hard at work filming, or writing or producing or acting, etc. As it’s very important to bring to light every woman we can- it’s also important to remember that we don’t need to celebrate this one month out of the year, there’s always room to promote all these wonderful strong women anytime you want. Especially being in what is a male dominated genre, it’s important to keep up the promoting of women who are out there doing everything they can for a genre they love.
What would you tell an up-and-coming creative in the world of horror who sees that being a woman/identifying as a women as something that makes it so much more difficult at times?
It can be challenging actually, I have run into the whole you’re a woman and can only go so far talk from other guys in the genre and that just fuels me to keep going and doing the best that I can. I have lost jobs to men; I have been overlooked because I’m a woman and all I can say is I’ll keep going until my time comes. I say to those who want to join the horror genre to keep going and don’t let anything get you down, just keep being you and your time will come.
What are your favorite bits of helpful advice that you have received about your work or your field?
I love getting messages or emails or even letters when it comes to what I do, I have so many awesome fan letters from people who love my films or books or show and it feels good to know that there are those out there smiling over the work I create. One cool memory I have is I was signing at a convention and a young girl who was crying was too shy to come meet me, she was crying because she was nervous. I gave her a big hug and talked to her about filmmaking, she said she loved everything I do and was my number one fan. It really hit me how much I have an impact on young females who want to get into the genre; it’s fantastic and scary all at the same time.
In honor of celebrating Women in Horror Month, who do you believe viewers should keep an eye on in terms of the creative ladies in horror?
Keep an eye on everyone you can, there are so many wonderful women out there and too many names to name and those I’ll forget to put in. But to name a few, I really love Brooke Lewis, Maureen Whelan, Axelle Carolyn and so many more… Again look up as many women as you can who are working today in horror and learn as much as you can, they’re out there and you’ll love each and every one of them as I do.
What do you have coming soon that you can talk to us about?
I have a few more Monsters books coming out this year as well as a Novella and a Novel. Season 8 of my Television show Movie Massacre will be filming very soon and I am currently almost finished with post-production on my fifth feature film.
Pop them links to follow your work here:
www.lastdoorwayproductions.com
https://www.instagram.com/directorreynayoung/
https://www.facebook.com/horrorhostmissmisery